Ash Wednesday

After our morning session with George, and our afternoon session with Emily, a group of us ate dinner together to celebrate Marj's birthday. We had a collection of great food made my Marj and Jenna. Jenna also made a chocolate cake, complete with chocolate icing made with hot chocolate and topped with fresh blackberries. It doesn't get any better than great food and great conversation!


After dinner, we all went up to the Chapel. Right now, the Chapel is a basic concrete structure that the Hands family is constructing as time and finances permits. It is finished enough to be functional. There are a few embellishments and pictures hanging, but it's pretty bare - but definitely not in a bad way. It just is what it is. It is basic, but it is not distracting. It is empty, but it is not useless. There is just something about having only what you absolutely need: an area that provides an element of shelter, and people willing to praise God with their whole hearts. The evening began with sharing some stories that we were supposed to hear at Monday's prayer meeting, but ran out of time. Once those were wrapped up, we transitioned our focus to Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. George gave a message, challenging our perceptions as always. We prayed, and then we sang. As we were all singing, we took turns going up to have George place the ashes on our foreheads and bless us. Before and after everyone received their ashes, we all sang worship songs a capella. With volunteers from so many different countries, we know the same songs but to slightly different tunes and harmonies. It sounds like it could be confusing, or even frustrating, but honestly it somehow just works. There was not an extremely large group, but our voices just filled up the Chapel. It was a powerful experience that gave me chills. It was the perfect culmination to a very emotional, very encouraging day.

I realized I haven't shared too much scripture up to this point. Let me assure you, I marked several passages myself before coming here, and Hands has identified many others. I'll start off by sharing the Watchword for 2013:

^"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace"

 -1 Peter 4:10 [ESV]

There are many verses that are posted in the Village, and referenced frequently, but that is the main verse for this new year. It is a very important verse that highlights the heart of living in community. We must identify our gifts, and use those to serve each other and make our burdens lighter. God brought us all here purposefully, and anyone who has had the privilege to experience life at the Village will agree. The eight of us were meant to come here to be together for however long we are here. We are learning what it means to live in community, but it is so much easier when we are constantly faced with the harsh reality of these lives every day. There is no reason, other than pure chance, that we were born in the first world and these children were born in third world. That is the sobering reality that is always present here.